Various types of balloon inflators have previously been known. Typically, such inflators incorporate a through-flow motor which draws air from the surrounding atmosphere and exhausts it through an air duct providing an inflation nozzle adapted to receive the neck of a balloon. Accordingly, the air used for inflating the balloon is the same air that is drawn through the motor to cool it. As the motor works, its temperature rises. This is aggravated by the use of narrow inflation nozzles to receive the balloon neck. The narrow nozzle restricts the air flow and accordingly raises the motor temperature. This is particularly true when a large number of balloons are being inflated in succession, for each balloon constitutes a motor load that varies as the balloon inflates. As a result, the motors of such inflators are given to quick wear-out after operating at continuously high temperatures. Furthermore, as the temperature of the motor rises, the balloons are inflated with increasingly warmer air, and, as a result, after the balloon is inflated and the neck sealed, the balloon deflates as the warm air cools and provides less pressure.
To address this problem the art has provided an inflator employing a bypass motor that drives a fan held within a fan chamber to provide working air (i.e., air for inflation), and separates this working air from motor cooling air, resulting in an inflator that exhibits less heat build up. This balloon inflator is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,847, which establishes the state of the art of balloon inflators at this point in time. However, the balloon inflator taught by this prior patent, while constituting an improvement over its prior art, is herein improved to provide a balloon inflator adapted to fill different types of balloons, including latex balloons, small foil balloons lacking self-sealing valves, and larger foil balloons that include self-sealing valves in their neck portion.
The balloon inflator of U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,847 typically provides inflation pressures of from 80 to 95 inches of water (4° C.). While such pressures are suitable for most latex balloons and small foil balloons lacking self-sealing valves, it has been found that these pressures can force the self-sealing valve out of the neck of a large foil balloon. Thus, the prior art has failed to provide a single balloon inflator unit that can safely fill multiple types of balloons, including particularly latex balloons, small foil balloons, and large foil balloons including self-sealing valves.
Additionally, the prior art balloon inflator of U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,847 has been found to suffer from the high temperature problem previously disclosed herein. That is, despite of the employment of a bypass motor, continuous operation of the prior art balloon inflator can result in a raising of the bypass motor temperature to a point where the air filling the balloons is too warm, and, as a result, there is still a potential for balloons to deflate to some extent after the initial inflation. This is been found to be particularly true with larger foil balloons, such that there is a particular need for a balloon inflator that will adjust its operating parameters in accordance with a particular type of balloon being inflated. Currently, the need is most appreciated with respect to large foil balloons wherein high operating pressures have been shown to blow the self-sealing valve out of the balloon neck, and high operating temperature have been found to result in a deflation of the balloon after the initial inflation.
The prior art balloon inflator of U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,847 provided a fan inside of an involute to provide air to an inflation nozzle at the top of the inflator housing. This nozzle was free-floating with respect to a collar portion of the housing, and could be made to assume two positions, a first, lowered position in which the nozzle engaged the involute to receive all of the inflation air generated by the fan, and second, raised position in which the nozzle was raised off of the involute such that a portion of the inflation air generated by the fan would exit the involute in the interior of the housing and travel down through the housing, over the fan motor, and out a bottom exhaust. A portion of the air would also exit through the inflation nozzle. This movable nozzle was provided to aid in keeping the operating temperature down by limiting the amount of resistance encountered by the fan motor, but it has been found still to be too restrictive since the air to be exhausted must still travel through the housing to exit at the bottom exhaust.